Showing posts with label torte. Show all posts
Showing posts with label torte. Show all posts

Oreo Crusted White Chocolate Mousse Torte

Okay, so, I made this dessert for Pretend Thanksgiving, see? And basically it was awesome, see? I definitely recommend you making it, see? I would've totally been an awesome circa 1920's gangster.

Anyways, this dessert has many many steps, but if you break it down and read over it a couple of times, so you know what's coming up next, it is so easy! You can do it! I promise! Definitely include the parchment paper on the bottom of your springform pan, and DEFINITELY use a sharp knife, that has been dipped in hot water between slices, to cut this cake. I let it sit in the fridge over night, and after the chocolate in the crust had hardened, it was a little difficult to cut. I think if you let it sit out for a little bit, though, it shouldn't be too bad.

I'm telling you, I'm not a mousse fan, but this stuff is fantastic!!



Oreo-Crusted White Chocolate Mousse Torte
Makes one 9-inch cake; 12 servings
For the crust and garnish:
Butter for preparing the pan
24 Oreo cookies, roughly broken in thirds
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup (4 ounces) heavy cream
For the filling:
10 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 cups (16 ounces) heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
Coat the interior of a 9-inch springform pan with butter. Place a circle of parchment in the bottom and butter it as well (I omitted this step and it didn’t stick).
Place the bowl of an electric mixer and wire whip attachment or the beaters in the freezer to chill.
To make the crust, place the broken cookies in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Pulse until medium-size crumbs are formed. They won’t be uniform but don’t process long enough to make mush- just to grind the cookies into uneven crumbs. Leave the crumbs in the food processor. Place the semisweet chocolate in a medium metal bowl. Pour the 1/2 cup heavy cream into a small saucepan; set over medium heat and bring the cream to a very gentle simmer. Pour it over the chocolate and stir until the mixture is smooth. Add two-thirds of the cookie crumbs; reserve the remaining crumbs. Stir the crumbs to coat them with the chocolate. Spoon and scrape the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Press the chocolate-coated crumbs evenly over the bottom all the way to the edge of the pan, but not up the sides. Set aside.
To prepare the filling, place the white chocolate and 2/3 cup of the heavy cream in a metal bowl placed over, but not touching, a pan of simmering water. Stir occasionally as the chocolate melts. When the mixture is smooth, remove it from over the water and set aside to cool.
In a chilled bowl using the chilled beaters, whip the remaining 1 1/3 cups of heavy cream and the vanilla until soft peaks form.
Pour 3 tablespoons of water into a small saucepan and sprinkle the gelatin over it. When the gelatin has softened, place the saucepan over very low heat and stir the mixture just until the gelatin has dissolved and liquefied. Immediately scrape the gelatin mixture into the white chocolate mixture, and fold gently until well combined. Fold the white chocolate-gelatin mixture into the whipped cream until the mixture is uniform. Scrape the filling into the prepared crust. Refrigerate the torte until the gelatin has set, at least 4 hours or overnight (I refrigerated mine overnight). To serve, loosen the edges of the torte from the sides of the pan with a small knife. Remove the sides of the pan and run a wide metal spatula between the bottom of the torte and the parchment liner, then lift the torte onto a flat serving plate. Just before serving, sprinkle the torte with the reserved cookie crumbs.
This torte can be refrigerated, covered, for up to 4 days.


I know this looks overwhelming, with all of those steps, but again read through the recipe a good 2 or 3 times so that you're really familiar with it. I think that helped me a lot. I knew what to anticipate. While the white chocolate was cooling, I worked on the gelatin part. Easy stuff! Also, because of the number of steps, and my mom's kitchen being darker because I made this as night, the only pictures I have are of the finished product. That should be motivation enough for you to make this :)



Before...


AFTER!! Can you even wait to eat some??

Recipe Source: Mel's Kitchen Cafe

A Torte-al Failure Of Sorts

So, there's a gap in my blog. I have good reason. I was in Ireland/Scotland from the 11th-19th :) Can you say, AWESOME? Anyways, I got home on Saturday the 20th and despite suffering from jet lag, I was antsy to bake something since it had been so long. I'm going to go ahead and blame the jet lag on the result of this week's baking experiment.

My mom gave me this recipe. It's a torte she saw done on "Ultimate Recipe Showdown". I've always wanted to make a torte homemade, so this seemed like a great idea.



I mean, look at that! How can anything that involves peanut butter cups go wrong?

Things were going great. I love chocolate. I love peanut butter. I love combining to the two.

Exhibit A:


I think I'm singing a happy chocolate/peanut butter song.

Things were going smoothly, and then it came time to move the other cake layer onto the peanut butter covered one. This is where the jet lag came in to play and I lost my mind. I'm going to blame Mike along with the jet lag actually. He's the one that said "Just put your hand under it and move it." My hand is half the size of the cake layer... Here is what happened:



I also think it didn't bake long enough. The recipe had comments that were adamant about the 25 minute bake time. Ugh, 28 probably would have been better for my oven.

The night was not a complete failure. I did manage to successfully pour this glass of water and pop this bag of popcorn.



Yes!